Our last supper....

Hey all,

I'm pretty sad writing this as this is the last 'official' post I will be making... at least regarding dinner, etc. I do hope to still use this blog to keep updated of prayer requests and things going on in the group as time goes on. I just want to say again what a blessing you've all been in our lives and how much we are going to miss you. We are excited for Tuesday night to go 'out' with a bang. I hope we have a wonderful time of fellowship and food.

The 'menu' is bring your own meat, and a side dish. We will grill out, eat, talk, laugh, cry, you got it. :) Kids are welcome, and we hope everyone can make it. Someone, please bring a dessert as your side dish!

Love you all,

Dinner May 15th

Hey everyone!

As discussed, since we started over in the dinner rotation, and we only have two weeks left :( we will be doing Costco pizza this week (if you've never had it, you will like it, trust me!!). The pizza's are $10 each, I will get three, maybe four. So your family doesn't have to bring anything this week except whatever you want to contribute towards the pizza. The kiddos and I will make some brownies on Tuesday. If anyone WANTS to make a salad to go with, feel free, otherwise, pizza and brownies it is!

Also, I've got some soda left from past weeks, but as discussed if you want anything specific please feel free to bring it along. Going kind of easy this week.

To all the mama's out there, we love you and hope you are blessed by your family tomorrow. Relax, enjoy the day, no working/cleaning/cooking! That's what I say anyway! Love you ladies! xoxoxo

Dinner 5/8/12

Hey guys, Here is the menu for Tuesday. Hope to see you all there!!! Zaragoza's are up the following week, and the 22nd is our 'bust up' party! We are down to four couples for dinner, so if anyone wants to bring a salad or vegetable, we could use that too. I'll probably make some corn to go along.


Shiver: Chicken Cordon Bleu
Zaragoza: Mashed Potatoes or rice
Franklins: Dessert
Georgescu: Drinks

Our Sad Decision

To our dear small group, If you missed small group tonight, you missed our big announcement. So here it goes. After exhaustive prayer and discussion between Miles and I, we are very sad, but peaceful, to announce that we will be stepping down as small group leaders, effective at the end of May.
Miles and I started our group two and a half years ago with the hope that whenever our time together came to a close, we would find ourselves and our group members closer, stronger, and in a more intimate relationship with God than when we started. We are so thankful to you all for doing your part in making that happen. And we are thankful to God for undoubtedly having His hand upon our group these last 2 1/2 years and bringing us farther spiritually than we could have ever dreamed or hoped for.

As a group, what God has done has been amazing. We have seen thousands of prayers answered; we have seen families come together and overcome obstacles; we have seen children, spouses, and even the hardest hearts come close to God and turn around and serve and glorify Him; we've seen several of our members baptized, and celebrated two couples becoming one together through the Lord. We've seen babies born and lives changed. We've seen each and every couple in our group step up and serve in some ministry at church, and we've served our community together. We've seen and experienced more than we could EVER have hoped for.

It has always been our prayer that one of you all would step up and lead a group in the South Valley... church is always looking for leaders. If anyone is feeling led to step in and take over, please contact us privately and we will be happy to answer any questions, mentor you this summer, and prep you for leading in the future. We think you are ALL capable.

We want to thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for sharing with us, encouraging us, and loving us and our family. We are very sad to see this ministry end, and we hope it is ending only for a season in our lives. For now, God has made it abundantly clear to us that we need to be focused on the 'small' group of little ones that we are raising in our home.

Never forget, you will ALWAYS be welcome here. Please know that our house is ALWAYS open, our phones work just like they do now, and you are always welcome to come to us to talk, for guidance, prayer, or just to fellowship. We are praying diligently for each and everyone of you... that you don't stop learning, growing, and fellowshipping. We will bug you incessantly until you find a new group, so start looking now!!! :0) We love you guys, and we are seriously overwhelmed at what God has done in our group, and in our own lives, through you. It has been a privilege serving you all over the past few years. We love you all deeply and will greatly miss our Tuesday night meals and time spent studying God's Word together on our uncomfortable yet functional living room floor :0) ...

We will be meeting through May 22nd, so don't think you are off the hook yet!! :)

Always here for you,

Dinner 5/1/12

Hi guys, Hope you are having a great week. Here is the menu for Tuesday, please let me know if you can't make it. And thanks for covering your stuff if you can't. Have a wonderful weekend!!!


Georgescu: Frito Pie (Meat, Beans and Chile)
Shiver: Lettuce, Cheese, Sour Cream
Zaragoza: Fritos
Gonzales: Dessert
Franklins: Drinks

Dinner 4/24

Hey guys, Franklins: Grilled Cheese Georgescu: Chips & Dip Shiver: Salad Zaragoza: Dessert Gonzales: Drinks See ya'll Tuesday!

Dinner 4/10/12

Hey all, hope you are all having a great weekend with your families! Please take some time to reflect on the gospel today and tomorrow, and remember why we celebrate Easter! Remember that Tuesday is our split girls/guys night, so PLEASE try to come if you can!!! Guys will be studying humility and the girls will be studying Being a Godly Wife!


Gonzales: Rotisserie Chicken (yummy!)
Franklins: Vegetable
Georgescu: Mashed potatoes or rice
Shiver: Dessert
Zaragoza: Drinks

I think we will do ice cream sundaes for dessert, just in case you need a little more incentive to come. :)

Thanks guys!!

xoxoxo,

Potluck 4/3/2012

Hi all,

Hope you had a great week. For those of you who missed small group on Tuesday, the vote was for Chinese food potluck on Tuesday night. I am making orange chicken, the Zaragoza's are making fried rice... we need everyone else to step up and make something. We need dessert, drinks, and more food. So, its up to you guys what you want to bring. I'm not assigning specifics. Please let me know what you'd like to bring. Our centurions will be joining us this week, so please make food for two extra.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Dinner tomorrow (3/27/12)

Hey guys,

I didn't hear from all of you yesterday when I texted. Tomorrow is breakfast for dinner. Thank you for those of you who DID respond to me. :)

Zaragoza's are bringing waffles, we need people to bring meat (bacon or sausage) and someone to bring syrup. I'm counting on you guys to come through! We can't have too much meat, so if you have time and can whip up some bacon or sausage before you come, please do. Otherwise, please bring syrup. Miles and I have apple juice, OJ and milk.

Oh yes, Thursday is my birthday, so cake is good too. Lol I'm just kidding. See you all tomorrow! We are finishing Fearless, so please read chapter 14 and complete the study. Thanks!

Dinner 3/20/12

Hi everyone, hope you've had a fabulous week! We've been enjoying these wonderful, windless days!!! Here is the menu for Tuesday, please let me know if you have any questions!


Shiver: Spaghetti
Zaragoza: Salad & Dressing
Gonzales: Parmesan Cheese
Franklins: Garlic Bread
Louella: Dessert
Georgescu: Drinks

Have a wonderful weekend, see you all Tuesday! xoxoxo

Dinner 3/13

Hey ya'll. Remember, chapters 4-10 for Tuesday, study guide on just chapter 10!!


Georgescu: Tangy Citrus Chicken
Shiver: Salad
Zaragoza: Rice (can you make the sticky stuff for me?!?!)
Gonzales: Vegetable (Berna said squash or grilled pineapple is really good with this meal but totally up to you guys!)
Franklins: Dessert
Louella: Drinks

Thanks everyone, see you Tuesday!

Dinner 3/6/12

Hi all,

Anntonette, we missed you Thursday, we had a blast! Glad all you ladies could make it! Here is the menu for Tuesday, its TACO NIGHT!!! YEAAAA!!! Have a great weekend!


Louella: Taco Meat, Cheese
Georgescu: Side Dish (beans?)
Shiver: Dessert, Sour Cream, Lettuce, Salsa
Zaragoza: Side Dish,
Gonzales: Tortillas (soft and/or hard?)
Franklins: Drinks

Let me know if there is anything you all need! See you Tuesday!

Dinner 2/28

Hey guys,

Here is the menu for Tuesday, please let me know asap if you aren't coming. Thanks!
Session 2 of Fearless!

Franklins: Pulled Pork
Louella: Side Dish
Georgescu: Dessert
Shiver: Buns
Zaragoza: Side Dish
Gonzales: Drinks

Small Group 2/21

Hey guys,

A few things in this post:

Girls Night, Thursday March 1:

We talked about it on Tuesday and those of us who were here decided on sushi night! We haven't decided on place or time yet, but it'll be around 6:30 or 7 and most of you can pile in my big bus of a Surburban! We will go to a place that has fried rice and other entrees for those of you (eh em, Anna) who don't want to eat sushi. I'm really excited for this and hope everyone can make it!!

Boys camping trip

The weekend will be finalized soon, but it will be sometime in April. Sorry guys, I will not let my husband leave for Mother's Day weekend, or any other weekend in May or June. I'd really like him to be here to see our new baby born :0).

Fearless Study Week 1:

You all have your books in hand, so get reading!!! For this week you need to read Chapter 1 and do the study guide section starting on page 17. Please also bring your money on Tuesday if you haven't already. Let me know if you need to know your total again.

Dinner:

Gonzales: Chicken Fajitas (Yummmm!)
Franklin: Tortillas (Soft, fajita size), Shredded cheese
Louella: Dessert
Georgescu: Side dish (Beans or rice)
Shiver: Chips & Guac/Salsa
Zaragoza: Drinks

Have a great weekend!

V-Day Dinner, Girls Night, and New Study Books

Hey guys,

Great group as always last night, thanks for being such a blessing to us. Here is a recap of what we talked about yesterday:

Dinner Tues 2/14:

Fellowship night. We will be having a BBQ!! Everyone is responsible for bringing your own meat (and some for me, if you want) =) and we will cook it up for you! Everyone is also responsible for bringing a side dish--chips and dip, pasta salad, whatever you'd like to bring to share. Berna & Horia will be bringing dessert instead of a side dish. The house is open as always at 6pm, we will have the grill going then and will eat whenever the food is cooked. If you need buns for your meat, please bring those along, but I've got condiments covered. We will also be grilling a bunch of hot dogs if the kids want to eat them, so if your kids want hot dogs, just bring buns for them! We will play Wii, games, etc if you guys want.. as always with socials, feel free to bring your kids!

Girl's Night:
This will be Thursday, March 1st. I'm open to suggestions for where you girls would like to go and what you'd like to do. I think it'd be fun to go to a fancy dinner somewhere, but not sure how that will fit in all of our budgets! So, please email, text, call etc with ideas, but make sure to keep your calendar open for whatever we decide to do!

New Study:
As Miles said, we will be taking a break from the Foundations study and will be starting the book Fearless by Max Lucado. Here is a further description:

Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They're still talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, more downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the wordterror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, and doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, when you could trust more and fear less. Can you imagine your life without fear?

Please let me know ASAP if you didn't tell me last night what you wanted us to order. It looks like there is a paperback available, but we aren't sure we can get enough of them in paperback, so for now the cost is $16/book and $10/workbook. Miles and I will cover the cost of the DVD we will use each week. If we can get the books cheaper, we will let you know. Please bring your money on Tuesday as we hope to have the books in by then.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Dinner 2/7/12

Hey guys, here is the menu for the week. Let me know asap if you can't make it. Thanks, have a great weekend!

Zaragoza: Tostadas (Meat, Beans, Tortillas)mmmmmmmmmmmmm
Gonzales: Shredded Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes
Franklin: Side dish (maybe Spanish Rice?)
Louella: Sour Cream, Salsa
Georgescu: Dessert
Magnuson: OFF
Shiver: Drinks

Two Articles I wanted to share..

Hey guys,

Here are two articles that I wanted to share. The first applies to those of you who are in that 'overtime' season of parenting that we talked about back in the Randy Carlson study (Or those who will be there soon!). I like what Dr. Leymon has to say, and I think you could take (and leave) some great things from this article.

http://www.birthorderguy.com/parenting/living-with-your-adult-child-its-a-house-not-a-hotel/

The second article is from InCourage, which is a blog that I read daily. All of you moms out there, I encourage you to read this when you have time. It is a wonderful article, and I hope it gives you some reminders of why we, as moms, do what we do... why we persevere when the days are long and hard, and also as a reminder of how short of a time our kids are with us. Obviously this is a personal letter written to her kid, so parts of it are very specific, but overall it is a wonderful blog.

http://www.incourage.me/2012/01/what-a-parent-wants-to-say-before-a-child-leaves.html

Thanks, love you guys!

Menu Tuesday, Jan 31

Hey guys,

Here is the menu for Tuesday. If you are assigned a food for Tuesday and something comes up that you can't bring it, please let me know as soon as possible. I can always run to the store if I have notice, but its hard to fill in if we don't know until 5 or 5:30. Thanks guys!



Shiver: Beef Strogonoff (Including egg noodles)
Zaragoza: Bread
Gonzales: Vegetable
Franklin: Dessert
Louella: Salad
Georgescu: Off
Magnuson: Drinks

Thanks guys!!

Dinner Tuesday 1/24

Hi all!

Hear from the Franklin's and they are back safe and sound! Thanks so much for praying for them diligently this past week. Cannot wait to see you guys on Tuesday!

Here's the menu:


Magnuson: Crispy Baked Chicken (MMMMMMMM!!!)
Shiver: Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Zaragoza: Vegetable (Corn, green beans, whatever)
Gonzales: Dessert
Franklin: Bread
Louella: OFF
Georgescu: Drinks

I opted out of salad this week b/c we've been having it a lot lately. Let me know if this doesn't work for anyone. See you all soon!

Dinner Tuesday 1/17/12

Hi guys,

Here is the menu for Tuesday. See you then!


Georgescu: Spaghetti
Magnuson: Salad (we still have dressing from last week)
Shiver: Bread
Zaragoza: Dessert
Gonzales: OFF
Franklin: In Haiti!!!
Louella: Drinks

Please keep Chris & Anntonette in prayer, they arrive in Haiti TODAY!! Thanks guys, see you Tuesday!

Tuesday, January 10th

Hi guys, I missed you all so much last night, can't wait to see you all next week!! I know this is early but we are going out of town tomorrow so I wanted to get it sent out before we left. Please note: We have some really important things to discuss next week. #1. We will be having a prayer time to send Chris & Anntonette off and to bless their trip to Haiti and #2. We are discussing childcare (as a group, even if you don't have kids). So PLEASE try your hardest to attend on Tuesday. We will also be welcoming our world traveler's back (Berna & Horia, thats YOU). Excited to see you all next week, please let me know ASAP if you can't make it.

Dinner is:


Louella: Chicken Pasta
Georgescu: Salad
Magnuson: Salad Dressing (maybe two kinds)
Shiver: Dessert
DeHerrera: Bread
Zaragoza: Drinks
Gonzales: Paper Plates
Franklin: Off

Please remember, you are only responsible for entree every 9 weeks.. but with that, it means we are cooking for a lot of people, so keep that in mind when you are preparing your portions!

Thanks guys, have a GREAT week/weekend!